The Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue provides fire protection, emergency medical services, hazardous materials intervention and technical and specialized rescue to the citizens of Prince William County. The Operations Section is comprised primarily of the personnel who respond to daily emergency calls throughout Prince William County.

These vital services are performed by our highly-trained field personnel, consisting of officers, firefighters and emergency medical technicians and paramedics. Field personnel are responsible for many tasks besides emergency response. Some of these tasks include, but are not limited to, personnel staffing, equipment readiness and maintenance, personnel training and evaluations, budget preparation, departmental standard operating procedures, development and enforcement and emergency scene management.

The Operations Section consists of over 400 field personnel serving a population of over 400,000 residents. In 2012, the Operations Section responded to over 49,000 emergencies.

Fire and Rescue Response Crews

Fire engines, heavy rescues, trucks, ambulances and medic crews are managed by a unit officer or a station captain who rides on the fire engine. Each of our fire and rescue stations cover a certain response area throughout all of Prince William County, including the towns of Occoquan and Haymarket. The station captains are managed by four battalion chiefs. The battalion chiefs are stationed throughout Prince William County and are responsible for a number of stations. Battalion chiefs also respond to certain emergencies to help manage that emergency.

This level of Virginia State Certification allows the person to render aid with basic medical skills. These skills include hemorrhage (bleeding) control, splinting of fractures, basic life support--CPR, basic airway management, childbirth, and many other skills.

Paramedic

This level of Virginia State Certification allows the person to render aid with advanced medical skills. These skills include the skills of the emergency medical technician (EMT) plus drug therapy, obtaining IV access, ECG monitoring, and advanced airway management. Both the EMTs and paramedics learn, train, and practice medical skills from neo-natal infants to the adult.

Firefighter I/II

This level of Virginia State Certification allows the person to ride on a fire engine as minimum staffing and provides the person with basic skills such as advancing a hose line, putting up ground ladders, forcible entry, and performing rescues on an emergency scene

Driver Pumper Operator

This level of Virginia State Certification allows the person to drive a fire engine to an emergency incident, operate the fire pump, and be able to troubleshoot and operate all the equipment carried on the fire engine.

Instructor I

This level of Virginia State Certification allows the person to instruct training classes for their personnel.

Officer I/II/III

These levels of Virginia State Certification build upon each other teaching the officer basic leadership and management skills, how to develop and review SOPs, budget preparation, and communication skills.

Shifts

Field personnel can end up working one of two shifts:

Day work--Monday through Friday, which is four 12-hour days, 6 am to 6 pm with a rotating day off during the week. This is called a 4-day/48-hour schedule.

Shift work, which is a 24-hour shift followed by 48 hours off 365 days a year. This is called a 24/48 schedule.

Disclaimer

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